HHS Mandate: Keeping the 'Wrong Sort' in Our Place?

Good news: Folks want to buy the company's product, and folks want to work there.

Bad news: Until America's government changes, only so many folks will be able to work there. I'll get back to that.

Money, Idolatry, and Common Sense

I don't know how many folks still believe that "money is the root of all evil;" and that 'good Christians' are supposed to be 'so heavenly-minded, they're no earthly good.' Not that the terminally-spiritual lot would put it quite that way.

It's the 'prosperity gospel,' run in reverse gear. Sort of.

Money isn't a problem. It's love of money that can get folks in trouble. That's a sort of idolatry: treating something that's not God as a god.¹

As far as I can tell, having money - or not having money - isn't a virtue: and it's not a vice, either. What matters is what we do with what we've got, and I've been over that before. (September 27, 2010)

Keeping Catholics in Our Place?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may not be trying to keep 'those Catholics' and other folks with functional consciences from being too successful.

Sadly, that's one of the effects of the HHS mandate, that forces employers with more than 50 people on the payroll to pay for 'health care.' That's a euphemism for sterilizing women, and killing babies.

I don't think that sort of 'health care' is a good idea. Even if it's 'for their own good.'

This HHS mandate imposes a de facto limit on the size of companies whose owners have ethical standards. I think it's a bad idea: although I'll admit to having a personal stake in the matter.

De Facto Limits

I remember 'the good old days' of de facto segregation and unbalanced poll taxes. Before the '60s, white trash, blacks, and other 'undesirables' had the right to vote: but couldn't because of poll taxes or other legal barriers. I think that was a bad idea.

I also think that forcing employers to support killers of the weak and helpless is a bad idea. Not all employers, though: just the ones who have a conscience and get 'too big.'

Here's what a young business owner thinks of the situation:

"Fed mandates put hiring on hold"
Aaron McWilliams, oped, INFORUM (February 17, 2012)

"One year ago, I invented a new candle that's poised to revolutionize the industry. In less than 12 months, we've grown from a concept in our kitchen to opening a 10,000- square-foot factory in my hometown of Hillsboro, N.D.

"I am one of the young entrepreneurs our country needs. We've invented brand-new product lines, and we are bringing manufacturing to a small community, creating jobs and developing overseas accounts. We've done it all from scratch in less than one year, but government mandates and red tape threaten the momentum of our company, the jobs of our communities and the birth of new companies in our country.

"At full capacity, our employee base should exceed 75 full-time workers, but I will never choose my business over my faith. I'll keep our staff to a minimum so we won't be forced to comply with new mandates that add undue expenses and contradict our faith....

"...It is in our employees', our company's, and our country's best interest that businesses provide benefits to their workers. But if by mandating health care, we slow job creation and create resentment among the people, we end up with healthy workers with no place to work. Is it worth it?

"McWilliams is CEO of Spiral Light Candle Corp. "

Folks living in Hillsboro could use another large employer. Right now there are more folks looking for work than jobs. I know Aaron McWilliams. He believes that ethics trumps convenience and expediency: and his company simply can't afford the sort of economic penalties the federal government would impose if he got 'too big,' and didn't pay to have babies killed.

Evil isn't Nice

There are nicer, more genteel, ways to put that. But the situation isn't nice, and I don't think this is the time for being genteelly diffident about saying 'evil isn't nice.'

Remember November

Aaron McWilliams discovered that one or two folks didn't approve of his having a conscience. That's understandable. We're not used to that sort of behavior in America.

But quite a few others quietly said that Mr. McWilliams had written what they had been thinking. I hope those folks pay attention to what the politicos say - and what they actually do - before the November election.

Americans have an opportunity to vote for candidates who do not think that the federal government should force people to abandon their consciences - or their livelihood. God willing, I'll find candidates who fit that description: and be able to vote. There's a new and growing company in Hillsboro, North Dakota. I'm particularly interested in it, because my son-in-law runs it.

---

More posts about forcing Catholics to violate our conscience:
The Department of Health and Human Services vs. Conscience

---

Other related posts:

• Life
  • "Six Seven People Killed in Minnesota's Monday Crashes"
    (February 22, 2012)
  • "Steve Jobs, Jospeh Maraachli, and "Reproductive Health:" My Take"
    (October 7, 2011)
  • "Troy Davis: American Courts are Never Wrong, Right?"
    (September 25, 2011)
  • "Sex Selection, Newspeak, and Getting a Grip"
    (August 11, 2011)
  • "Remember: 'Clinically Dead' isn't 'Dead'"
    (October 22, 2010)
• Religion
  • "My Take on the News: Down Syndrome; Religious Freedom; the Vatican's News Service, Beta Version"
    (January 20, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Religious Freedom: All Week
  • " 'Religious People aren't Reasonable?' "
    (December 18, 2011)
  • "The Establishment Clause; Religious Freedom; and Getting a Grip"
    (October 5, 2011)
  • "Separation of Church and State, Assumptions, and Fear"
    (September 2, 2011)
  • "Pakistani Archbishop, Florida Book-Burner, and Living with Differences"
    (April 27, 2011)
• Politics
  • " 'I Take No Interest in Politics" isn't an Option"
    (March 29, 2010)
  • "Freedom of Speech: Bothersome, but Valuable"
    (January 27, 2012)
  • "My Take on the News: Religion, Politics, and Freedom"
    (October 28, 2011)
  • "Public Officials with Ethical Standards: A Radical Idea For Today's America"
    (June 29, 2010)
  • "Life: It's a Single Issue, and an Important One"
    (November 2, 2008)
• Tolerance, real and imagined
  • "My Take on the News: Death; Religious Freedom; Resistance; Burned Books; and Saints"
    (February 24, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Religious Freedom and Living in a Big world
    • Apology: It's a Start
  • "Religion, Assumptions, and Getting a Grip"
    (January 1, 2012)
  • " 'Tolerance' isn't Always Tolerant"
    (December 7, 2010)
  • "My Take on the News: 'There Oughtta be a Law?' "
    (November 11, 2011)
  • "Loving Neighbors: No Matter What"
    (May 10, 2011)

---

¹ Love of money is a really bad idea:

"For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains."
(1 Timothy 6:10

"Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never forsake you or abandon you.'"
(Hebrews 13:5)

I've quoted those verses before:

• "Timothy, Amos, Money, and Getting a Grip"
  (August 4, 2011)

Loving money is a sort of idolatry:

"Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, 'You cannot serve God and mammon.'..."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113)

Bottom line, idolatry is a bad idea and we shouldn't do it. (Catechism, 2110-2114)